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It’s a killing machine

A couple of items from the desk of our trainspotting department. British TV series SAS Rogue Heroes is a WW2 action/adventure drama based on “mostly true” events. What it lacks in historical accuracy, it makes up in the entertainment value. And a very anachronistic soundtrack. Season 2, episode 5 features a convoy of said rogue […]

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Gotta keep it simple

Ritchie Blackmore tells the story of writing and recording of Smoke on the Water.

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Smoke, water, fire, sky

Deep Purple has performed at the Montreux Jazz festival on July 8, 2024. This year, the festival added a new venue — an open air stage on the town’s central square, with Lake Geneva right behind the stage. This is where the band has played their set. Smoke on the Water was accompanied by the […]

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Where was the fire? A different perspective

Frank Zappa bassist Jim Pons was onstage performing with Zappa when someone in the audience fired a flare gun into the ceiling of the casino in Montreux and burned down the building in December 1971 – the inspiration for Deep Purple’s “Smoke On the Water.” Hear him tell his version of the story here. With […]

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Break a leg, Frank

The much touted video for the remix of Smoke on the Water has arrived.

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Swiss time was running out

[Updated: Pt 5] A brand new video for Smoke on the Water was produced to promote the upcoming reissue of Machine Head. The video will be an animated one. Here is a preview and interview with the creators Dan Gibling and Luke McDonnell.

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Maria Moita author passes away

Our contributor from Brazil Marcelo Soares writes: Legendary bossa nova composer Carlos Lyra has died today, December 16, 2023, at the age of 90. You may not be a bossa nova fan, but you definitely have heard of at least one of his songs, Maria Moita — the riff, originally written by Tom Jobim for […]

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What makes this song great

Rick Beato got his hands on a multitrack of Smoke on the Water and dissects it for his Youtube series What Makes This Song Great?

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And now for something completely different

Over the course of the pandemic, Robert Fripp and his wife Toyah Willcox were entertaining themselves and their Youtube audience by recording covers of everything from Swan Lake to Smoke on the Water in their backyard. Guitar World has recently caught up with Fripp and interviewed him about this project (which is still going strong, […]

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But no emptiness, no eagles, and no snow

This gentleman travelled all the way down to Montreux to tell the story we all know. The short film is nicely put together, and he managed to get inside the Résidence des Alpes (née THE Grand Hotel).

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